Sports Illustrated's Fittest Athlete: LeBron James Goes on No-Carb Diet to Prepare for Upcoming Season

Miami Heat's LeBron James (L) looks to pass around San Antonio Spurs' Kawhi Leonard (R) and Tony Parker of France during the second quarter in Game 5 of their NBA Finals basketball series in San Antonio, Texas, June 15, 2014.
REUTERS

Name any athlete to score perfect 10s in all categories of speed, endurance, strength and agility and you will find no other name than the king himself, LeBron James.

Although he was just named by Sports Illustrated as the fittest athlete in all of global sports, the best player in basketball is not resting on his laurels. He is currently going through a no carbohydrate diet plan in preparation for the upcoming 2014-2015 season.

The two-time NBA champion who is turning 30 this year is following in the footsteps of long tenured superstars such as Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan who have extended their careers by following a strict diet path. Nash cut out sugar from his food plan, Bryant went the vegan route, now James is taking the no-carb path.

As early as this month and two full months before training camp begins, he is now down to 240 pounds, a ten to fifteen drop in his recorded weight. From the Instagram photos he posted recently, James was visibly cut and thinner than the look he sported last - during the NBA Finals. Experts are speculating that the move comes as an effort to preserve his knees by lessening pressure on them.

While SI has named him as the fittest athlete in sports, his succumbing to the infamous air conditioner game or Game 1 of the NBA Finals has led pundits to question his conditioning. Below is the said list which named LeBron number one, besting track and field's Usain Bolt and football's Cristiano Ronaldo: